My Top 10 Poker Moments of All-time

So, after learning that my vacation days to Turning Stone Casino in New York got approved by Lowe's, I've decided to post my top 10 poker moments of all time for your amusement. Every moment occurred when I was playing Texas Hold'em Poker.

Listing from 10 to 1:

10. Watching the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event in which Chris Moneymaker won the championship. This was when I first started playing Texas Hold'em and started to get addicted to it. My personal favorite moment from this main event is this hand: click here

9. I make an incredible call on Pokerstars to win $26.65 with just a pair of threes, including a pair of nines on the board. The guy continually stabbed at winning the pot with huge bets. On the river he bet over $10 for me to call with just a pair of threes. I put him on a flush draw, and listened to my reading skills and called his bet. He was on a pure stone cold bluff. That was practically the only hand I could of beat there; a huge bluff. I called him and won the pot and amazed everyone in the room.

8. Playing Texas Hold'em with my buddies in my 12th grade trigonometry class with a "custom deck". The deck was made from 13 pieces of copy paper, and was played with because none of us could find a deck of cards in the area. Now that's addiction!

7. Purchasing and reading Phil Hellmuth's poker book, Play Poker Like the Pros. This book greatly helped me improve my poker game and understanding. I would recommend to it any poker player.

6. Playing in a huge 16 man tournament at my house with my brother and his college friends, I was playing at a table with my brother. I had a good amount of chips and was in decent position and raised with Ace Eight of diamonds. My brother raised my bet a huge amount, and I debated for a long amount of time and called the bet. The flop came down eight of hearts, and two lower diamonds. My brother bet to me, and I raised, in which he went all-in. I called the bet putting him on pocket tens. I knew I had the lower hand at the moment but knew that an ace, eight, or a diamond would win me the hand. My chances of drawing a card to win me the hand was roughly around 30% on each the turn and river. My brother actually had pocket jacks on that hand. A blank came on the turn, but I was ecstatic to see that the river card was a diamond, and I made my flush to beat my brother. I knocked him out of the tournament and he was very upset with the decision I made to call his bet there with a pair and draw. However, I would re-do that move a billion times in that situation. Especially, since I had a good idea at what he had.

5. Continually putting my brother's friend, Mark, on tilt in different tournaments at my house. I purposely showed him hands I previously played to get him confused when I actually played against him in the hand. I often did the opposite of what he was expecting, and I took many of his chips when he was playing poorly due to frustration. Mark even admits to being on tilt because of me several times. Click here for a definition of tilt.

4. The same exact guy from the 3rd top poker moment was in a different tournament with me. I had Jack Queen of Hearts and called a bet from the same player to see a flop. I was instantly pleased with the flop when I saw that it was 8, 9, 10 of hearts. I had flopped a straight flush, and I slow-played the hand hoping someone else would bet. Well, my online arch-rival from top moment #3 did all the betting for me. He bet on the flop, turn, and river. The last card was another heart, and he bet a huge amount to which I raised him all-in. He auto-called and auto-lost the hand. He actually had the ace of hearts and a 10, and was crushed big time when he lost the hand with an ace-high flush to my straight flush.



3. One time a guy online who shall remain nameless was criticizing my play. He called me a "fish" in a tournament for making a call on a bet that was actually well justified with correct odds. I caught on him in that hand, and won a nice pot, and argued with him online in the chatbox on Pokerstars. I automatically developed a hunger to take him out and when I was dealt pocket Jacks I raised to see him call. The flop came down 9, 3, 8 and I bet to which he automatically overbet the pot and went all-in. I debated thinking that perhaps he had Ace-nine suited or something like Ace-Eight suited, and I called the bet. He had pocket tens. Another person called our all-in bets with pocket eights and I needed to draw a jack on the turn or river to win. Neither person expected a Jack to come on the river and I beat his three-of-a-kind with my higher three-of-a-kind. I laughed for several minutes when this happened as he was eliminated from the tournament by me. Revenge was served on a very cold dish that day.


2. I once turned a $2 money transfer online from my brother on Pokerstars into $150 in about a month after winning numerous big hands in cash games and tournaments.

1. Just after turning 18, I took a trip to Turning Stone Casino in New York where it is okay to gamble at the age of 18. My family took me and I played an entire day at the cash Texas Hold'em tables. I showed up at the table with $100. I left the cash table after 4 or 5 hours with close to $390. At one point, I actually had close to $600 but lost a good amount bluffing a hand or two. I'll never forget this poker moment to me, especially since I was sporting a cool but intimidating look. I was wearing sunglasses over my eyes, and on the tip of my nose I had my glasses on.